Witness Protection Program
by Fiery Von Bielefield
Summary: Entering Alice University like any other normal girl, Mikan Tsukiyomi has a dark past that not many people know.
1. Chapter 1The Past And The Present

**Witness Protection Program**

_Written by: Fiery Von Bielefield_

**Chapter 1:**** The past and the present**

The man was sitting comfortably in his office. He was dressed in black from head to toe. His face was hiding behind a white mask, an elegant mask which could also cover the evil smile that was forming on his lips as he read the documents in front of him. There was nothing that he hated more than those that stood in his way, and he would make them suffer for meddling in his jobs. He reached out for the cordless phone on the desk and pressed a button. A woman's voice was heard from the phone almost immediately.

"What do you need, Persona?"

"Luna, tell Fox to come to my office, he has job to do." Persona answered. He was filled with pleasure when he thought of those people, who dared stick their noses in his business, suffered from pain. Suddenly, an idea came to him, this should be the chance for him to analyze his new pawn's abilities. He pressed the button again. When the woman asked him for anything else that he needed, Persona couldn't help a ruthless smile on his face as he said, "You might as well summon the Black Cat here."

Persona didn't have to wait for a long time. About five minutes later, he heard gentle knocks on his room's door. "Come in", he ordered. The door was opened, revealed three people outside. On the right was a woman in her business suit, her dark hair fell on her shoulder. She had a small smile on her face as she stepped inside his office. On the left side of the door was a tall, mousy haired man. He gave off a dangerous impression with the tattoos on his arms and his muscular body. The man had an annoying expression on his face, as if wondering what Persona wanted from him that he could wake him up in the middle of the night. The last person at the door was a boy. He was in his teenage years. The boy had raven hair that looked kind of messy and crimson piercing eyes. He walked inside gracefully without paying any attention to the other three. There was no emotion showed on his face.

"What kind of mission will we receive this time, Persona?" the tall man asked. He wanted to start his job as soon as possible since he was woken up in the middle of the night.

"Now, now, don't be so hasty, Fox", Persona replied. He was enjoying this job more and more, seeing that Fox would be the perfect one to handle those annoying targets. Stood up from his chair, Persona walked towards the window and looked outside. It was pitched black; there was no moon tonight. _It was perfect_, he thought, _perfect._ Shifting his gaze back to the people in his office, Persona smirked at Fox's waiting expression, the woman's curious look and the boy's unemotional face.

"Do you remember the man and the woman interfered our mission last time, Fox, those two that helped the ambassador escape your gun?" he questioned although he knew that there was no way Fox could forget them.

"Of course I do, how could I not? Those FBI bastards." Fox muttered, cursing the memory of his failed mission.

"Well, you have your chance of getting back tonight. Snow Wolf has just sent me some information, including their whereabouts." Persona said, knowing that he was raising Fox's interest.

"Is it true? Then hand it over so I can go finish them in place of the stupid ambassador." Fox stated, his voice full of excitement, a murdering excitement.

"I told you, don't be hasty. I will give you the information you need, but before that, there is something that I need to tell you." Persona replied in a warning tone, which made Fox shiver a bit, but he made sure that no one notice. The boy and the woman seemed unaffected, though.

"Alright, what is it?" he asked.

"First of all, remember that your targets are FBIs, they will be hard to handle." Persona slowly stated.

"Not to me", Fox said.

Persona was annoyed that Fox interrupted him, but he continued anyway. "Second, make sure that there is no evidence once you left. Last but not least, you will have our young Black Cat here accompany you."

"What? This is a killing mission. I'm not babysitting him." Fox retorted, looking at the teenage boy beside him with disgust. The boy, on the other hand, just glared at him nonchalantly.

"Don't underestimate him, Fox. Despite his look, Black Cat is well-trained, and he is capable of anything you can do, so he won't get into your way while you're having your 'fun time' with those love birds." Persona said with a smirk on his face.

"OK, but if he gets into any trouble, I'm not responsible", Fox stated.

"Don't worry, if anyone is going to get into trouble, it will be you," the boy spoke up for the first time with a smirk on his face. His voice was as ruthless as Persona's, making Fox feel uneasy. He had a feeling that this little boy was far more dangerous than what he could think of. He then shifted his attention back to Persona, "Well, when can I start my mission?"

Persona handed Fox a piece of paper from the documents on his desk. He gestured the boy to look at it, too. The piece of paper contained photos of three people, a smiling man with messy hair, a woman with long brown hair and a little girl with auburn pig tailed hair. The boy's attention was caught by the girl's smile, a heart-warming smile. He looked at the words next to her picture, it said: "Sakura Mikan, 8 years old". _8 years old, huh_, he thought, _the same as me when it happened. _

"At the end you can see their address. Snow Wolf will meet you at their location. Don't fail me this time." Persona stated.

"Got it." Fox smirked. _This is going to be fun. I've been waiting for so long to try my new ways of torturing on them._ He began to walk out of the room, eager to go. However, he stopped on his track. Fox turned around to see that the boy, Black Cat, was not following him. Instead, he just stood their, lost in his own world. "Oi, aren't you going?" Fox asked, getting annoyed by Black Cat's arrogant manners. The boy stared at him as if judging the opponent. After a few seconds, he shook his head and walked towards Fox; his hands were in his pockets.

"Remember, leave no evidence, or else you'll face the consequences." Persona reminded when the two were already at the door.

"I'm aware of it." Fox replied, and with that, he was out of sight.

**********

The little girl was rolling in her bed. She couldn't sleep. It was half an hour to midnight. Her parents had come to her room three hours ago, kissing her forehead and bidding her good night. When both of them had turned off the lights in her room and left, she shifted herself to a more comfortable position and waited for sleepiness to take over her. However, she couldn't pull herself into a deep slumber like she did every other night. She had an uneasy feeling in her heart; it was like the feeling she had when she went home from school one day and found out that her grand father had passed away due to a heart attack. She remembered crying so hard back then. Her grand father was one of the people she loved so much, yet he wasn't with her anymore. Until now, the pain of losing him was still aching in her heart.

The girl stood up and peeked out of her room's door. Her parents were still awake. They were talking with each other inside their room, careful enough to not wake her up. She walked back to her bed and pulled the cover over her head, feeling safe. As long as her parents were there, nothing could go wrong. With such determination in her head, the little girl soon was sleeping soundly. Many years after, she would always curse herself for falling as sleep so easily. If she had known what would happen, she wouldn't have pushed the uneasy feeling aside.

She always wished that nothing had happened that night, but it was too late.

**********

She was awakened by a loud noise. The little girl opened her sleepy eyes; she has just fallen asleep an hour ago or so. Assuring herself that it was just a dog barking, she turned to her side and was about to go back to sleep when she heard someone scream. It was not just someone's scream.

It was her mother's scream.

The girl suddenly no longer felt sleepy. She jumped out of her bed immediately. Her mother's scream was cut short and everything turned into silence, a dead silence. She clutched her chest; the uneasy feeling she had a while ago had come back, and it was worse this time. She noticed the darkness around her. Her parents never turn off the lights in the corridor since they knew she was afraid of ghosts, yet there was no light flickering under her room's door.

Still had no idea what to do, the little girl opened the door and stepped out of her room. "Okaa-san! Otou-san!" she called.

Silence.

Her parents' room was dark and after going in to check, she was sure that it was also empty. She took a few steps toward the stairs. The light switches were out of her reach, so she continued to walk in the darkness. Although she was afraid of ghosts, she cared about why her parents didn't answer her more, knowing that they wouldn't leave her alone.

Putting her hands on the wall to make sure she was on the right track, the girl took small but careful steps down the stairs. To her surprise, the living room was filled with light. She looked inside and saw her father's grey hair behind the couch. She ran to the couch and called him, feeling relief because she knew that her father would turned back with a gentle smile on his face and asked her what was wrong, she would tell him that she couldn't sleep, then he would picked her up with his strong arms and assured her that everything was alright.

But the smile she expected never came. Her father's head never turned back, as if he was asleep. She strode up to the couch only to find her parents sitting there together with their eyes closed. _Something was wrong_, her mind told her, _something was definitely wrong_. Trying to hold back a small sob, her hands found their ways to the man in front of her, shaking him.

"Otou-san, wake up! Wake up! It's me!" When the man neither opened his eyes nor moved his body, she turned to the woman beside him. "Okaa-san, open your eyes! Okaa-san, talk to me, I'm scared!" The little girl cried as her hands stroke her mother's auburn hair; every time she did that, her mother would smile with her and did the same to her. She felt something sticky in her palms. Liquid. She looked at her hands, and horror hit her.

It was blood.

She couldn't believe her eyes. Blood was flowing freely from her mother's temple. She looked back at her father, crimson liquid could be seen flow from his head as well. She gasped in horror and burst out into tear. Her whole body felt weak, and she fell on to her mother's lap. She grabbed their entwined hands in her small ones; her tears were streaming out.

And at that very moment, the house was engulfed by fire.

**********

_10 years later_

The new school year had started.

Ruka sighed at the idea. He was walking on the school ground, proceeding to the C building, where his first class was; his fingers ran their way through his blond hair unconsciously. It was still early in the morning, not many people were spotted on the school ground. He had always liked the feeling of a brand new day, and he was a morning person. Several books in his arms, his golden hair reflected the sun's rays, his ocean-blue eyes sparkled with delight when he thought about his animal friends he had just left at home, and a gentle expression on his face, Ruka Nogi was the ideal role model for the kind of charming prince any girl would dream of. Ever since he was just a little boy, when he had no idea what were the differences between a boy and a girl, he had his own fan club, which were formed unknowingly to him by almost all members of the female population that had set their eyes on him.

Fan girls, agh. Ruka sighed again as the thought struck him. As far as he knew, luck was still on his side since he hasn't been caught and dragged around by his annoying fan girls, claiming that he was theirs. Thank God for making him a morning person that would wake up early before any of his fan girls does. It was not that he detested women in general, but imagined that everywhere you go, there would be some girls who squealed and drooled whenever they saw you. That would be completely annoying.

He turned at a corner, still deep in his thoughts. He was suddenly caught off guard when someone bumped into him. Startled by the sudden collision, Ruka was pushed backward, but he managed not to fall. The other one wasn't so lucky. The person lost balance and tripped, but Ruka immediately grabbed the person's wrist to prevent that person from crashing down the cold floor.

He bent down to look at that person as he asked, "Are you alright?"

That person looked up, and Ruka unconsciously held his breath in. It was a girl, a quite beautiful one to be exact. She was a petite girl with long auburn hair that was tied into a pony tail. Her bright brown eyes matched her hair perfectly, and she happened to have a heart-warming smile on her lips, one that could soften even the snortiest man's heart.

"I'm okay, sir. You don't have to worry." The girl smiled, reassuring him. Upon realizing that he was still holding the girl's wrist, Ruka reluctantly let go. He darted his gaze at the floor and saw that the girl's bag had been dropped on the floor when she bumped into him; everything inside fell out. He kneeled down to help her pick up her things, the girl smiled again when she saw him do that.

"Here you go. Remember to close your bag next time." Ruka said as he handed her the books; a smile found its way to his lips.

"Thank you, sir. By the way, can I ask you something?" the girl asked. Her voice was soft and sweet, which made Ruka feel pleasant.

"Of course, but don't call me 'sir', my name is Nogi Ruka." Ruka replied.

"Uhm, then Nogi-san, can you show me the way to the C building? This is my first time here and I'm kind of lost." The girl said, a hint of depression was clear in her voice.

"Well, it's also my destination so I guess we can go together." Ruka said. He couldn't help smiling when the girl's face lightened up with joy.

"Are you a new student here? I've never seen you around." Ruka asked as they were walking together.

"Yes, Nogi-san. I'm a freshman of the Medical Department. My name is Mikan Tsukiyomi, but you can call me Mikan." The girl said with a never–ending smile on her face.

"Really? I'm also in the Medical Department, but I'm a junior." Ruka smiled at the information. He was quite surprise, too, to know that there were girls that didn't squeal, drool or scream around him. "I guess you can call me Ruka-senpai then."

"That's great, Ruka-senpai" Mikan replied happily.

The two continued to chat animatedly on their way to class. They found out that they had the same homeroom teacher, Narumi-sensei; therefore, they headed for the same classroom that was located on the third floor. The room was packed with people from different departments and different school years. Ruka soon found himself surrounded by girls of all sizes as soon as he stepped inside. With a thankful wave to him when she noticed he shot her an apologetic look, Mikan turned around to look for a vacant seat in the room.

"Hey, are you freshman?" A girl with pink hair appeared right in front of Mikan with a welcome expression on her face. She was wearing a plain cover-knee white dress with pink ribbons on her hips and matching white sandals.

"Yeah, Medical Department, Mikan Tsukiyomi" Mikan answered with a grin in reply.

"Great! My name is Anna Umenomiya. I'm studying in the Economy Department and a freshman, too." The girl told Mikan, and she waved at another girl, gestured her to come over. "This is my cousin, Nonoko Ogasawara. She's new in the Technology Department" the second girl, whose hair was dark blue, beamed at Mikan as a greeting and shook her hand. Mikan couldn't help feeling close to Nonoko since she was wearing a black sleeveless T-shirt and jeans, the type of clothes Mikan would definitely fall for. Her mouth curved up to form a smile.

"Have you found a seat yet, Mikan-chan?" Anna asked.

"Uhm, not yet"

"Then you can sit with us, right here." Nonoko stated as she pulled Mikan towards a vacant seat at the second row, next to hers and Anna's seats.

Once the three of them had settled in their seats and were chatting about stuff, the school bell rang, indicated that homeroom period had started. The door was opened and a man walked in. He had blond hair that reached his shoulder and purple eyes with long beautiful eyelashes that Mikan wished they were hers. The man was wearing, awkward as it seemed, a tux. Everybody was confused, but no one spoke up.

"That must be our homeroom teacher, Narumi-sensei" Anna leaned to her right and mumbled into Mikan's ear. She gave a nod in reply.

"Good morning, my students. I see that you are all energetic after such a long and busy summer. Wow, we have so many new faces this year." The last sentence was indicated on the freshman students sitting on the right side of the class. Narumi-sensei smiled with his students, especially the new ones before he went on. "And now, we will perform our annual selection. Those that are junior this year please step forward to pick up your partner from the box beside me." He gestured towards a box, which were filled with folded paper on his desk. The students sitting on the left stood up in a line and proceeded to the box, each of them picked out a piece of paper and handed it to Narumi-sensei.

"Hey, Ruka-senpai is a junior this year." One of the girls mumbled as the line of juniors slowly proceeded.

"Oh, I'd love to have him as my partner." Another girl stated with dreamy eyes.

"Don't fool yourself, he'd probably pick my name." A girl butted in.

Confused with all the murmurs around her, Mikan turned to Anna and Nonoko with a questioning look on her face, "What are they talking about?"

"Ah, that's a tradition in Narumi-sensei's class. A junior will pair up with a freshman to help them with their works and tutor them when needed." Anna said.

"Yeah, and since Ruka-senpai is a junior this year, he will have to choose his partner. All the girls are expecting him to draw their names out since his ex-partner was a guy and he graduated last year." Nonoko added, she was looking at the juniors. "There he goes" She said as she saw Ruka walked up to Narumi-sensei from his place and picked a name. The three girls turned back to look at the two men; they didn't fail to notice that all the other girls in their class were holding their breath, waiting.

"And Ruka-kun's partner is… Mikan Tsukiyomi." Narumi-sensei happily announced; many girls breathed out then groaned because they were not the one mentioned. "Mikan-chan, please raise your hand." Mikan raised her left hand in the air. Glares from every direction were shot at her made her shiver. Ruka, on the other hand, smiled with her as he saw who his partner was, which increased the intensity of the glares; then, he walked back to his seat.

"Mikan-chan, you're so lucky! Ruka-senpai is the nicest and most handsome guy around." Anna giggled as she saw Ruka's smile.

"Correction, he's ONE of the most handsome guys around." A voice suddenly interrupted their conversation. The three girls turned around and saw a girl with dark green hair and green eyes. She was wearing a white blouse together with a red striped skirt; her hands were on her hips and she was talking with a lecturing tone.

"Ruka-senpai is, indeed, the nicest guy in the whole Alice University. And he's also the sweetest guy you will find in this part of the country. However, he's not the ONLY handsome guy around." She said, "There's always Natsume-senpai for you to expect."

"Eh, who's this Natsume-senpai?" Finding that 'Natsume-senpai' was someone she hadn't heard of before, Mikan couldn't help wondering how this girl knew so much, about Ruka-senpai and all.

To Mikan's surprise, the girl went crazy. She threw her hands in the air, showing that she thought Mikan was unbelievable. She pouted as she looked at Mikan's innocent face. To say that the girl was crazy was an understatement. No, she was furious. "WHAT? Don't tell me that you don't know Natsume-senpai" she sighed as Mikan looked at her with innocent, clueless eyes. "Natsume-senpai, Ruka-senpai's best friend, raven hair, crimson eyes, junior of the Law Department. He was the most handsome and most brilliant student of Alice University."

"Just come to the welcome party tonight, you'll see him." Nonoko said when she looked at Mikan's still confusing face.

"Yeah, we can make some new friend at the welcome party as well." Anna added.

"By the way, I'm Mikan Tsukiyomi. I figure that we haven't introduced yet?" Mikan asked the green haired girl in front of her cheerfully.

"My name is Sumire Shouda. I'm a sophomore of the Acting Department." The girl replied with definite self-esteem in her voice.

"Nice to meet you Sumire-senpai. Are you going to the welcome party tonight?" Mikan enquired.

"Of course, especially when Ruka-senpai and Natsume-senpai will be there." Sumire responded with dreamy eyes when she thought of the two guys mentioned.

Just as the girls were about to talk more, the school bell rang again, loud and clear, a sign that homeroom was over. The students packed up their things and followed Narumi-sensei out after saying goodbye to get to their other classes. Mikan pulled her schedule out of her bag. She had no other classes for the whole day, so that meant that she could go home and relax while other people were suffering. She smiled and stood up; Anna, Nonoko and even Sumire had gone before her to their classes. She was walking to the door when she heard someone called out her name. Mikan turned around and found an excited looking Ruka heading her way. She stopped on her track and beamed at him.

"I just want to say that it's great to be your partner. And there's a welcome party tonight at the school hall, will you come?" Ruka said when he finally reached her.

"Uhm, I'm not busy so I guess I'll be coming." Mikan answered, which earned her another smile from Ruka.

"That's great. I'll introduce you to my friends. See you later, then." Ruka waved before he walked back towards his friends who were waiting for him. Mikan began strolling along the path back to her house. She has just moved in a two-bedroom house near her university campus about a week ago. As soon as the landlord showed her the house, she loved it immediately. It was small but cozy. It was painted white and pink, her favorite colors. The landlord even let her rearrange the house, and Mikan had flowers and cactus everywhere in her new home. At first, she was quite confused on which bedroom she would use because both of them were beautifully decorated, but she soon solved it by making a schedule of sleeping in one room on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and in the other on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. On Sunday, she would just simply toss a coin to choose which room to sleep. Both rooms had big full-sized mirrors, wardrobes and bathrooms so she didn't have to bother running around from room to room to look for something to wear.

Mikan unlocked the door and stepped inside. The scent of newly bloomed roses greeted her. Mikan closed her eyes and inhaled that scent, how relaxing. She threw her bag on the couch and went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. After all, it was hard for her just to wake up that early in the morning, but she didn't want to give a bad impression on her first day. Now, she was fighting the urge to run back to her comfortable bed and sleep like there was no tomorrow. As Mikan pulled a cup out from the cupboard, the bell rang. She put the cup down then walked towards the door, wondering who would want to visit her this time of day. She didn't have to wait too long to get her answer.

"Mikan-chaaaaaaan", shouted a man with raven hair as soon as the door was opened. He had an enthusiastic expression on his face, and his grin widened when Mikan jumped into his open arms, screaming "TSUBASA". After a minute or two, they both broke apart to look at each other, beaming widely. Mikan let the guy inside her apartment, still wraping her hand around his torso. When he had settled himself on her comfortable sofa, she walked in the kitchen to make another cup of coffee for him.

"This place is just like you, Mikan, simple but friendly and beautiful." Tsubasa commented as he leaned on the sofa, closing his eyes. Mikan smiled, Tsubasa always knew how to get to a woman's heart. She picked up the two cups of coffee and shuffled to the sofa in her slippers. Mikan put the hot cup on Tsubasa's head, which made him startle and open his eyes. He grabbed the cup with ease. Mikan sit down on her side of the couch, sipping her coffee slowly, letting the refreshing scent clear her mind.

"Where did you get that star under your eye, Tsubasa? Last time I met you, I didn't see it." She asked after a few seconds inspecting his familiar face. Tsubasa's lips turned into a boyish grin. "This," he pointed his finger at the star under his left eye, "is what Misaki called her 'sign of victory'. She defeated me in the beer-drinking competition last weekend." Instead of a disappointed voice we usually heard people use when they mentioned their defeats, Tsubasa's cheerful voice showed that he was very proud of his lost to Misaki. Mikan burst out laughing when she heard him. "You still couldn't win after all those years?" she patted his back, "Typical"

"I see that you're as sympathetic as ever, Mikan-chan" Tsubasa sarcastically said, only made Mikan laughed harder.

"Never mind. What are you doing here?" Mikan asked as soon as she got out of her laughter.

"Checking on you" he replied, his face turned serious, "My job is to protect you. Beside, I want to see your new place."

"I see" Mikan stated. Memories suddenly loaded her mind, and she could feel herself tremble. Putting her hand on her heart, Mikan tried to calm herself down. She noticed that Tsubasa was observing her carefully.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his hands reached out for her face and caressed it.

"Yeah. It's just that something was on my mind. Don't worry" she smiled and looked away from his jet black eyes. However, he lowered his head so that he could look into her eyes intently.

"You've never been a good liar, Mikan. Anyway, if there's anything that you need to let out, I'll always listen to you" he declared with a small smile on his lips. Mikan smiled again, only this time, it was sincere. "I promise I'll run to you first whenever I'm in trouble", she promised. Tsubasa has been her friend long enough to know that she was telling the truth. He took a deep breath and stood up, looking around for a change of subject.

"Why don't we go out for dinner tonight, to celebrate the beginning of your new school year?" When Tsubasa finally asked, a grin had found its way on his face once again.

Mikan shook her head, "I'm coming to the welcome party tonight. Can we reschedule it to Saturday night?" She looked at him with apologetic eyes; she was afraid that she may hurt Tsubasa's feeling. He laughed out loud upon seeing Mikan do so.

"It's okay, Mikan-chan. It's not like I'll blame you for not going out with me tonight. Saturday night is just fine," he said and he saw Mikan let out a sigh of relief, "I have to go anyway. I need to report to head quarter that you're still alright." He drank all the content of his cup; then, he walked up to the door with Mikan following him.

"I'm going, Mikan-chan. My boss will scold me if I don't hurry up," Tsubasa stated with a little hint of sarcasm.

"You're still mad that Hotaru is younger than you, yet she's your supervisor?" Mikan questioned as she eyed Tsubasa closely, "You're so childish." Just as he was about to protest, his phone rang. Fishing his cell phone out of his pants pocket, Tsubasa looked at the caller's ID and murmured, "Right on time." He put the phone near his ear and cast Mikan a look that said _"It's her"._ She only chuckled silently as a reply.

"Yes, Imai" Tsubasa said.

"_You are supposed to call me one minute and forty seconds ago to report about Mikan's condition. May I ask what cause such a delay for you to inform me about her?"_ A cold and emotionless woman's voice replied. He could feel the deathly warning in the woman's simple statement.

"I was about to call you when you called me. Mikan's fine, nothing is going wrong around here." He stated and handed Mikan his phone. Mikan took it and said, "Hey Hotaru, I'm doing well. It's great to know that you're worrying about me."

"_I'm not worrying about you. I'm just doing my job__. Who would care about an idiot like you?"_ Hotaru responded in her forever cold tone. Hotaru Imai was a raven haired girl with amethyst eyes. She was eighteen, just like Mikan. Hotaru was considered the most talented girl in their hometown, and maybe in the whole country. She liked technology and she had invented most of the country's mechanical appliances, which earned her a great amount of money, and hell, she was really satisfied for her favorite thing in the world was money.

"Hotaru, you're such a meanie," Mikan pouted. It was Tsubasa's turn to laugh at her childishness.

"_Now that we know you're not in any harm, can you tell the other idiot to get back to the head quarter right away? I have a mission for him__,"_ Hotaru continued as if she didn't hear Mikan's statement.

"Okay, I'll tell him that" Mikan answered. And before she could say anything else, the line was cut off. Hotaru had hung up on her.

"She told me to tell you that she had a mission for you and you need to return to the head quarter," she told Tsubasa after looking at his cell phone in disbelief and disappointment for several minutes.

"I'll be going then. See you later, Mikan-chan." Tsubasa said as he put his cell phone back to its place in his pocket. He walked out, waved goodbye and disappeared at a corner. When Tsubasa's figure was out of sight, Mikan stepped back into her house, closed the door and after setting up the alarm clock to wake her up in the afternoon, she snuggled down the cover on her bed and fell asleep almost immediately. Well, caffeine couldn't help her really much.


	2. Chapter 2The Welcome Party

**Witness Protection Program**

_Written by: Fiery Von Bielefield_

**Chapter 2:**** The Welcome Party**

She was sitting behind her desk in her office, waiting for him to come. There was new information about the crime that she knew he would be interested in.

It had been an hour since she called him, but he hasn't come. Hotaru tapped her fingers on the table's surface impatiently. _Damn that Andou, why isn't he here yet_, she hissed angrily in her thought.

Suddenly, her phone rang. She pressed the button and her assistant's voice was heard, loud and clear, "_He's here, Imai-san_."

"Send him in," she replied as she ended the call. Sitting back on her chair, she pulled out a pad of paper from under her desk. There was a knock on her door before the door was opened, revealing a young woman in business suit and a raven haired man with a star under his left eye. The man stepped inside while the woman only nodded before she retreated, not forget to close the door behind her.

"What do you have for me?" Tsubasa asked as he sat down on the couch. Hotaru stood up from her desk. Slowly approaching him, she handed him the papers she had earlier.

"I've got some new information about the murder at the train station two weeks ago," she said.

"The mysterious crime that even you had a hard time to find evidences?" Tsubasa asked when he opened the file. He flipped some pages, scanning it lazily. All of a sudden, a picture of a man with stoic face and dull brown hair caught his eyes. His jaw clenched in anger. "Him…" he muttered.

"Yes, it's him again, the famous assassin with the code name Fox," Hotaru stated, somehow she had heard his low mumble.

"He was the culprit?" Tsubasa asked.

"We don't have enough evidences against him, so I can't say that at the moment. However, I'm sure he is involved," Hotaru nonchalantly replied.

"I'll go back to the crime scene and investigate. I'll definitely find evidence," he stated as he looked at the picture of the man with disgusted eyes, his fingers clutched into his palm tightly.

"No, you won't," the raven haired lass firmly said. "That's not why I called you back here," she added as Tsubasa looked at her furiously. Sighing, Hotaru flipped some more pages of the file until she found what she was looking for. Tsubasa looked down, but his face soon turned from furious to confused. What he was seeing was a blurred image of a figure in black clothing. He could figure out that it was a man, but Tsubasa couldn't see his face clearly because of something that looked like a mask on the man's face.

Narrowing his eyes, Tsubasa questioned, "Who is this?"

"Four years ago, this man was really famous in America and Europe. It was rumored that he has never failed his missions. Whenever he set his eyes on his victims, they wouldn't be able to escape, and there would be no trace, no evidence," Hotaru told him. "All the polices and detectives in both America and Europe failed to catch him. Nobody has ever seen his face and his real identity remains unknown, so people named him Black Cat after the cat mask he always wore on his mission," she explained.

"I know Black Cat. I heard of him from a thief I caught in America," Tsubasa recalled, "but didn't him disappear four years ago?"

"Yes. For some unknown reasons, he disappeared. However, he's back. An agent of ours contacted me when he was spying Fox. He said that he saw Fox with a suspicious guy in a dark alley. He was able to send me a picture of them; however, we lost track of him. And when we finally found him, that agent had been killed."

"So, what do you want me to do?"

"The last place they have been seen was in Alice Town. I need you to trace Fox down," Hotaru commanded when she stood up.

"You mean that dangerous man is close to Mikan?" Tsubasa immediately stood up as well.

"And maybe that Black Cat is, too," came the amethyst eyed girl's reply.

********

Mikan woke up again at three o'clock in the afternoon. Gosh, never in her life had she slept that much, but it was worth it. Rubbing her eyes to get out of sleepiness, she stood up and walked towards the kitchen. She pulled a can of milk out of the refrigerator while yawning. Without any hesitation, she drank all the content of the can and started looking for something to eat. She hasn't eaten lunch, and she was so hungry that she could eat a whole cow.

After satisfying her growling stomach and taking a bath afterwards, she checked the clock again, it was four thirty. The welcome party would begin at eight, and Mikan remembered that she didn't have anything in mind on what to wear. As soon as she started panicking while standing in front of her wardrobe not knowing what to do, the bell rang. She strode up to the door and opened it. She was surprised to see that the people at the door were none other than Anna and Nonoko.

"Hey Mikan-chan, since we live pretty close, we decided to check your place out. You don't mind, right?" Anna asked when she saw the confused Mikan. Her hands and Nonoko's hands were occupied with loads of bags with different sizes.

"Of course you guys are welcome all the time. And good time, I need your help," Mikan smiled; she opened the door wider and both of them stepped inside.

"Wow, what a cute place you have here, Mikan-chan," Nonoko commented as she darted her eyes around the living room, then she zoomed off to inspect the cactuses on the windowsill. Anna was wandering around, admiring Mikan's house decoration. Mikan just only smiled at their reaction. After a few minute, Nonoko turned to Mikan and asked, "What did you need our help with, Mikan-chan?"

"Ah, I was just wondering could you two help me look for something to wear to the party. It's kind of late to go shopping," she replied with a sheepish smile.

"Well, isn't that great? We have the right thing you need, Ms Tsukiyomi," Anna said in her playful tone. She put the bags she was holding on the coffee table and began pulling the things inside out. Soon, the table was filled with lipsticks, mascaras, blushes, perfumes etc.

"Now, let us see you wardrobe, dear Mikan," Nonoko commanded in the same playful tone as her twin while grabbing Mikan's arm and dragging her towards the bedroom. Mikan only laughed and followed her lead with Anna tagged along.

"Oohh, Mikan! Where did you get such cute dresses and skirts? Where were you when I needed a gown for last year prom? I ended up wearing Aunt Yumi's old bridesmaid outfit. Not that it was bad though." Anna screamed. As soon as Mikan slid the wardrobe door open, Nonoko and Anna both squealed in delight, although they were amazed by totally different subjects.

"Well, I told my mom that I need something to wear on a date and she just dragged me to the department store. After that, she made me try all the dresses she could reach. And she ended up buying all the ones that fit my body since she couldn't decide which of them was the best. Little did she know, I was just planning to go to the park with my best friend," Mikan answered. The other two laughed at her explanation.

"I see you've got quite an incredible collection of jeans and sneakers, _sister_," Nonoko remarked before she gave Mikan a high-five. "Now those are what I bought for myself," Mikan proudly announce, gesturing her hand at the rack that her jeans were hung on.

"Yeah, but you're not dressing in those jeans to the party. A cute dress is what I'm talking about," Anna trailed around the dresses, analyzing them. Mikan and Nonoko only stood there waiting while she pulled some dresses out, only to put them back again. When her fingers found a white dress that was left behind in the corner of the wardrobe, she pulled it out and couldn't help a smile on her face. _This was it_, she happily thought. She turned around to the waiting Mikan and Nonoko to show them the dress. "I say this one is what you'll be wearing tonight, Mikan-chan"

It was a simple sleeveless dress. The upper part was white while the lower part was black. On the left side of the waistline was a polka doted bow. Anna also fished out a pair of matching pumps, half black, half white. "Perfect," Nonoko agreed, she couldn't help being amazed by her cousin's skill in the choosing clothes department.

After Mikan had changed into her suggested dress, the two girls were eager to put make-up on her. Mikan found herself be pushed on the revolving chair when the cousins tried different style of make-up on her. After about an hour and a half, to Mikan's relief, they were done.

"There, you look great, Mikan-chan" Anna claimed and Nonoko nodded in agreement. She handed Mikan a mirror. Mikan's jaw dropped when she looked at her reflection. Her hair was tied up into a half updo, and Anna had curled the end of her partially down hair and let it rest on her shoulder, which made her look more mature yet purely innocent. The two didn't put too much make-up on her face, just enough to enhance her nature beauty. Not only did she look presentable, she looked pretty. To the third party's point of view, saying that she was pretty was an understatement, she was gorgeous.

"I, I don't know what to say. Thanks, you two. Thank you very much," she mumbled as she hugged Anna and Nonoko to show her full gratitude.

"It's no big deal, Mikan-chan. I always want to practice my styling skill, and now I have you as my model. No, I have to thank you," Anna grinned, "Say, Mikan-chan, let me pick out your clothes for the next party, okay?"

"Of course," Mikan replied wholeheartedly.

"Oh my god, it's six forty-five already? Anna, we have to go back home to prepare ourselves, too," Nonoko exclaimed when she looked at the clock, "We'll see you at the party then. Bye, Mikan-chan" Then the two of them headed to the door to go home.

After Anna and Nonoko had gone, Mikan went to the living room and watched TV since she had nothing else to do.

It was an hour of boredom to Mikan until it was time to get to the party. Putting her jacket on, she stepped out into the cool breezy night. She checked again on her lock; then, she started strolling up to the campus.

**********

When Mikan arrived at the school hall, the place was already packed with loads of people dancing, talking and drinking. The music was so loud that she could feel her ears bleeding any second now. Upon crushing herself through the sea of people to look for her friends, she was pushed, dragged and hauled. At the moment that she thought she couldn't take it anymore, someone walked pass her and accidentally pushed her, which made Mikan unbalanced and tripped.

"Oi, watch out."

She couldn't watch the floor coming closer to her face at top speed, so she closed her eyes, waiting for the impact. However, the pain and the cold floor she was sure that was waiting for her didn't come. Curious, she opened her eyes and was surprise that she had stopped in mid air. Realizing that she couldn't possess any kind of super power, Mikan looked down, only to find that strong hands were holding her waist, preventing her from kissing the oh-so-tempting floor.

"Oi, can you stand up already, my hands are getting numb?" a masculine voice said, and Mikan got up on her feet, blushing furiously. She felt that this was like one of the scenes in those cheesy girly movies her mother liked to watch, you know, the scenes which the male character would save the female character from falling in a promising position, and then they ended up with a kiss fully on the lips. She didn't really expect the kiss, though, because she didn't even know who saved her. Nevertheless, it was any girl's nature to be romantic, wasn't it?

Mikan looked up with a smile on her face, intended to thank her savior, only to be greeted by a pair of tantalizing crimson eyes. The guy standing in front of her was around twenty. He was wearing a black shirt, black jeans and black sneakers. _Gosh, is this guy obsessed with black_, Mikan rumbled in her thoughts. She tried to study his figure closely. Black Guy had jet black hair, a straight nose, thin lips and pale, flawless skin. He was raking his fingers in his raven hair, making it messier than it already was while keeping his eyes on her. She felt uneasy, thinking that he was probably observing her as well.

"Not only are you as heavy as a pig, you have an idiotic smile as well," Black Guy smirked as his eyes scanned her lazily. Mikan, being the kind of girl that never let an insult about her go, felt herself boil up with anger.

"Why you…" she was about to snap back at him, but a familiar voice interrupted her.

"Natsume… and Mikan?"

Both of them turned their head in the direction of the voice and saw Ruka walk to them. Behind him were three more guys, one with dirty blond hair, another one with small fox eyes and the last one with glasses. All of them had amused expressions on their faces.

"Hey, Ruka" Mikan looked at Black Guy in surprise, _he knew Ruka-senpai?_ She cast him a questioning look but the guy didn't look back at her, he was just stood there, waiting for his friends to come.

"Hey, Natsume, it's strange to see you come, but it's good anyway," Ruka replied and patted his friend's back. "I see that you've met Mikan" he gestured the still speechless girl beside Natsume.

"Mikan?" Natsume stared at the girl mentioned, and she returned his glare with the same amount of intensity. Ruka, seeing the temperature rise between the two, decided to cool things off, "She's a freshman in my department and my partner, Mikan Tsukiyomi. Mikan, this is my best friend, Natsume Hyuuga"

Mikan was stunned when she heard him. Was he joking? Who could have thought that the charming, friendly, funny, cute Ruka-senpai was best friend with this cocky, cold, emotionless, obsessed with black guy, this… Natsume Hyuuga? Still, Mikan didn't forget her politeness. She held out her hand, waiting for him to shake it and said, "Mikan Tsukiyomi, nice to meet you"

Natsume, on the other hand, looked at her hand with indescribable expression on his face. He just shrugged and said "Natsume Hyuuga", leaving Mikan's waiting hand, which made she felt extremely embarrassed when she pulled it back.

"Ah, he's a little unsociable," Ruka punched his friend's arm as he smiled with Mikan in an apologetic way. She just smiled back at him, but she couldn't help pouting when she saw Natsume glared at her. "And these guys here are Kokoroyomi, we usually call him Koko, Kitsuneme and Yuu Tobita. They're all juniors. Koko and Kitsuneme are in the Technology Department while Yuu is in the Economy Department."

Mikan smiled when the three guys were introduced to her. All of them were nice and they seemed really friendly, in contrast to the Black Guy Natsume Hyuuga, who just leaned on the bar in a lazy way and listened to what everybody else was talking about.

"Nice to meet you all," Mikan said. She managed to catch a glimpse of someone familiar, and she called out, trying her best to overpower the noises in the party area, "Anna! Nonoko!"

Fortunately, the girls heard her. They turned to Mikan's direction with relief evidence on their faces, and when the two saw who she was with, they squealed with excitement. Not wasting any second, both of them proceeded to Mikan in incredible speed.

"Guys, this is my friends. Nonoko, freshman in Technology, and Anna, newbie of Economy," Mikan introduced and she wasn't surprise when Koko, Kitsuneme and Yuu greeted them like they've known each other. They were in the same Department after all. Ruka smiled with the two girls which made them blush lightly, but Natsume just nodded, he gave off the impression that no one should dare touch him or talk to him unless they wanted to be send to hell immediately.

The group soon found a vacant table and they all took a seat. They were talking lively when the DJ came on stage and slid a new disk in the stereo. The dance floor has soon become the area occupied by the most amount of young men and women, dancing along the beat.

"Come on, let's dance," Koko excitedly shouted, and all of them headed for the dance floor, except for Natsume, he just sat firmly on his seat, eyes gazing at the colorful ceiling. Mikan soon found herself dance with Anna and Nonoko by her sides and Ruka in front of her. They were laughing and shouting in excitement while dancing their hearts out. She was really enjoying it. Mikan was swaying as her eyes darted around the room and rested on the table her group sat earlier. She felt a tug in her chest. Natsume was sitting there, all alone. He was looking at the ceiling while stretching his legs under the table. He had the look of a bored guy that didn't care about the other people dancing wildly and having fun. Deep in her heart, Mikan didn't know why, but the minute that she saw him, she felt that he was lonely. After shouting to Ruka that she was tired and needed some air for she knew he couldn't hear her mumble in the sea of noise, Mikan left the dance floor. Ruka had kindly asked her if she wanted him to accompany her, but Mkan refused, insisted that he should stay with their friends.

She walked towards the table. When she passed a waitress, she grabbed a glass of juice on the tray the waitress was holding; then, she sat down beside Natsume. He seemed to not recognize her present.

"Don't you want to dance?" she said, breaking the silence between them. Natsume looked at her. He was surprise to see her there, sitting next to him instead of dancing with her friends. And what made him surprise more was that he didn't sense her coming, hence his glare.

"Not interested," he simply replied, shifting his eyes back to the ceiling. He didn't understand why, but he felt a familiar present from her. For some reason, he couldn't concentrate on the ceiling and his previous thoughts anymore. Sighing, he secretly observed the girl beside him while keeping his eyes away, not letting her notice his gaze on her. He remembered their earlier encounter, and chuckled in his mind. Come to think about it, the girl was quite pretty. She was wearing a sleeveless black-and-white dress with matching pumps. Her hair was half tied, half let down, the kind of style girls like to use when they wanted to look innocent and cute, and it was a little curly at the end, resulting in waves on her shoulder. She had light and simple make-up on her, which improved his impression on her a little bit; he didn't like girls with heavy make-up, it made him feel that they were fakes. Although he did say that she was as heavy as a pig, when he grabbed her waist to prevent her from falling back then, he didn't feel heavy at all. The girl was in good shape.

Keeping his thoughts wandering, he didn't notice that she was looking at him, as if waiting for a further explanation on his previous statement. Putting his opinions on her aside, he shrugged and asked, "What about you, weren't you dancing with them?"

"I was, but I felt tired and I needed some air," she responded and looked at her cup of juice, which she hadn't even sipped. Silence engulfed them once again. Mikan couldn't think of anything else to talk about while Natsume was deep in his thoughts.

"Thank you," he was jerked back again. He gave her a confused look, "For what?"

"For saving me back then. I figured out that I haven't thanked you," her smile made he feel a tug on his chest but he decided to ignore it.

"You don't need to," came his reply.

"You seem lonely," she didn't mean to say out loud her thought, but she was also out of talking topic.

"…"

He didn't answer. An answer could be a confirmation in this way or another. However, the girl seemed that she wasn't waiting an answer from him, either. She was in the middle of her own school of thoughts.

"I guess people who have the same problem feel comfortable around with each other, eh?" she said and smiled with him, but he could feel something behind her smile, it was sadness. Her statement made him surprise and he felt concern, more concern than he though he should be. He found himself leaning closer, curious and at the same time afraid to hear her reasons. Nevertheless, he didn't have a chance to ask her furthermore on what she meant because his friends were walking towards them, chatting and laughing.

"Hey, Natsume, why didn't you join us? It was wickedly fun, mate," Kitsuneme excitedly patted Natsume's back while the latter just grunt in reply.

"Mikan, are you alright? Ruka-senpai told us that you said you were tired" Nonoko and Anna asked as soon as they reached Mikan.

"I'm okay, girls, just need a little rest" she assured them with her usual smile.

"Yeah, we're kind of tired, too. Wanna go home?" Anna asked. When the other two girls nodded in agreement, she turned to the guys and told them that they were heading home.

"Let us drive you home, Ruka's car is big enough for all of us. Besides, it's not safe going home alone at this hour," Yuu stated, and the guys agreed. So, they went outside and all got in the car when Ruka turned up at the entrance. As soon as she walked inside her house and carefully locked the door and checked it twice like Anna had seriously told her to, Mikan strode in her bedroom. She changed into her night gown as fast as she could and slumped on her bed. She was too tired that she fell almost immediately into the deepest slumber she's ever had.


	3. Chapter 3The date

**Witness Protection Program**

_Written by: Fiery Von Bielefield_

**Chapter 3: The date**

"What is Misaki-sensei expecting us to watch? These beans hardly produce any CO2. I couldn't see the colored drop of liquid move," Mikan mumbled in a bored tone for she was afraid Misaki-sensei could hear her.

"Yeah, it's been twenty minutes and the drop hasn't moved even an inch," Ruka muttered in return. He, too, was bored of sitting and watching nothing. It was Saturday and the two was having their first classes in the morning: Biology and Chemistry. The project was to take notes on how growing beans respire by observing the movement of a colored drop of liquid in a tube, and since Mikan and Ruka were partners, they were working together. Both of them had spent twenty minutes staring at the little droplet, but to their dismay, it refused to move.

"Are you sure these beans are not spoiled? Because they didn't even respire for like _twenty minutes_," Mikan hissed, she stretched her hand on the table like a cat.

"Yeah, that's what Misaki-sensei told me," Ruka replied in a suspicious voice. Mikan, on the other hand, didn't listen to him. She was looking around, finding something more interesting to do. Finally, her eyes rested on the rack of test tubes and the bottles of chemicals on the table next to theirs.

"Hey, Ruka-senpai, how about it?" clutching his sleeve, she asked, her other hand pointed at the tubes and the chemicals. "The last time I _was allowed_ to play with these tubes was like ages ago."

"I guess having fun can't be a crime, can it? What do you have in mind?" Ruka winked, and Mikan took it as an obvious sign of 'yes'. She cheered playfully and quickly grabbed some test tubes and chemicals. "Say, how about a little firework?" she asked as she handed Ruka a bottle filled with yellow substances.

"Sulfur? What are you planning? Burn it?" Ruka questioned when he looked at the label on the bottle, and his face turned to excitement when Mikan gave him a grin. "Bingo," she said. He grabbed the bunsen burner and lighted it with flame. Mikan then used the spatula to pick up sulfur from the bottle and put it near the flame. The two watched it burn and sparkle with delight. On their faces were identical grins as they thought of what they were going to do next.

**********

"That was totally awesome, Ruka-senpai. Did you see Misaki-sensei's face when he noticed the cement colored liquid came out like volcano eruption from the test tube? It was priceless," Mikan was laughing her guts out. Ruka and she had had their 'fun time' in the laboratory which they didn't use for observing the respiring beans but messing with the chemical substances although Misaki-sensei, with an extremely horrified look on his face, called it a 'living disaster'.

"Yeah, he was mumbling something about me being an irresponsible senpai," Ruka chuckled as he remember his sensei's word, "but hey, having an interesting life lengthens your lifespan, so he shouldn't have been mad at me for a little experiment, right?"

His statement made Mikan laugh harder and she had to hold on to him so that she wouldn't collapse on the floor, laughing. "What did you put in the test tube anyway?" she managed to ask between her laughter.

"I don't remember, but it was fun, eh?" he answered while looking at Mikan with a pleasant smile on his face.

"I haven't had this much fun for a long time," she said. For a moment, Ruka thought that he saw a sad expression presented on her face, but he couldn't be sure because when he looked at her clearly, she had her usual smile back on.

"Oi, Ruka!"

Upon hearing his name called by a familiar voice, Ruka turned around, and he wasn't surprise to see Natsume walk towards him.

"Hey, Natsume," he replied, "Physics next?" The other lad nodded, and when he shifted his gaze on the girl beside Ruka, he frowned.

"What is the idiot doing with you, Ruka?" he asked, ignoring the fact that the girl in question was right there.

"Hey, I have a name, and it's not 'idiot'," Mikan shouted, a little louder than she wanted. She didn't care less, she was being insulted, for God's sake.

"Does it look like I care?" Natsume lazily replied while rolling his eyes.

"You…" as Mikan was about to protest, Ruka put his hand on her shoulder and smiled with her before he told Natsume, "We've just finished Biology and Chemistry. We, well, got Misaki-sensei a bit of trouble." When he saw his best friend's face turned into amusement, he quickly said before Natsume could comment anything, "Aren't you having lesson with Jinno-sensei next, Mikan? You should hurry up, or you'll be scolded,"

His statement made Mikan think for a minute, and when she finally realized that she was going to be late for JinJin, I mean, Jinno-sensei's class, she immediately grabbed her bag and ran, but not before shouting "See you later, Ruka-senpai, Hyuuga-senpai"

"Tch, idiot," Natsume muttered.

"Hey, Natsume, can you take my shift tonight? I need to hand in a new project in two days, Misaki-sensei demanded it," Ruka sighed.

"Why should I? You started it, you pay for it," the raven haired lad stated.

"Come on, Natsume. I'll pay you back later," Ruka said.

"I'll think about it," Natsume smirked as he walked towards the class, Ruka followed him.

**********

"Wow, what a long day! I can't believe that it's weekend and he still gives us a lot of homework. Geez, that JinJin," Mikan said when she sat down on a bench. Pulling out a newspaper from her bag, she quickly flipped it to the job-hunting column.

"Hey Mikan-chan, what are you doing?" Anna asked as she approached Mikan.

"Nothing much. I'm just looking for a part-time job on the school flyer, but I can't apply them because the work time doesn't match my schedule," Mikan replied as she moved aside to make more space so that Anna could sit next to her.

"You're looking for a part time job?" Anna asked, her face filled with delight.

"Yeah, do you know one?" Mikan asked.

"Well, Nonoko and I used to work at a book store but we couldn't work there anymore for we had an important project coming up. The shop keeper is looking for someone to replace us," Anna stated, "It's not far from your place, do you want to try it out?"

"Of course, Anna. I love you so much," Mikan screamed in excitement as she hugged Anna tightly.

Mikan's phone started ringing, and she fished it out of her bag to check the caller's ID. A grin was formed as soon as she found out that it was Tsubasa who was calling her.

"Hey, what's up Tsubasa?" she said with her cheerful voice.

"_You sound excited today,"_ she heard Tsubasa's comment_, "I just call to check if you remember our date tonight. I'll pick you up at 7, okay?"_

"7, got it. Where will we go?" she asked.

"_A restaurant close to your place. I ate there once and it was great. Guess who recommend it to me in the first place,"_ he said with a hint of excitement in his tone.

"Who?" Mikan asked. She was usually bad at riddles and quizzes, and he would tell her anyway, so why bother thinking?

"_It's Hotaru. She told me that I should take you there_," she could hear him laugh on the other end, and she was stunned. It was a strange thing to hear that Hotaru recommended a place for Tsubasa to take Mikan out for dinner.

"Hotaru? Really?" she asked again, finding that this information is quite unbelievable.

"_Yeah, I'm not joking. Guess we should watch out for any kind of surveillance tonight, eh_?" Tsubasa replied with his joking tone.

"Good idea," Mikan agreed. She, too, thought that Hotaru wouldn't recommend a place which she couldn't keep an eye on her best friend, right?

"_Well, see you at 7 then,"_ Tsubasa stated.

"Bye, Tsubasa," Mikan closed her phone and put it back into her bag, still grinning.

"Wow, Mikan-chan, who is that? Your boyfriend?" Anna asked out of curiosity while beaming mischievously, "You seem really happy receiving his call"

"No, no, it's not like that," Mikan blushed. She could feel heat creep into her face. Turning away so that Anna couldn't see her beef-red face, Mikan denied, "He's not my boyfriend."

"Yeah, right. Like I'd believe you," Anna grinned as she teased Mikan, "What was his name? Ah, Tsubasa, wasn't it? That's a nice name, don't you think, Mikan?" She gave the brunette a teasing nudge.

"I told you, he's not my boyfriend. He's just a brother to me," Mikan said, trying to keep her voice serious in front of the giggling Anna.

"Still, it doesn't make a date with him less important," Anna concluded, "Then we should head back right away, to prepare you for a date." As she said, she grab Mikan's bag and pulled the brunette up, striding home.

**********

Ding Dong. Ding Dong.

Her house's bell rang twice. She ran up to the door and opened it. As expected, Tsubasa was there, holding a bunch of roses.

"Right on time," Mikan announced as she get the bunch of flower from him.

"You look great today," Tsubasa commented.

"Stop joking, Tsubasa. I'm just wearing normal clothes," Mikan smiled. It was true, she was just wearing a white blouse with green knee-length skirt.

"Hey, are you Tsubasa?" a girl with pink hair appeared next to Mikan. She wore a wide grin on her face as she eyed Tsubasa from head to toe.

"Yes, Tsubasa Andou. Nice to meet you," Tsubasa smiled back when he bowed skillfully in front of Anna.

"I'm Anna, nice to meet you. Mikan has told me a lot about you," Anna replied. Mikan was about to reject when she was pushed outside by Anna.

"I'll take care of everything, don't worry. You go and have fun, Mikan-chan," the pink haired lass blinked before closing the door, prevented Mikan from making any complaint. The brunette looked at her companion and he gave her a gentle smile. Then, they started walking together.

"So, where is that restaurant Hotaru recommended?" Mikan asked.

"It's just a few block away, about ten minutes of walking," he replied.

When they arrived at the place, Mikan liked it immediately. It was a small Italian restaurant. Two men stood in front of the restaurant's door to open the door for customers with never-ending smiles on their faces. As soon as they walked inside, Mikan was frozen with awe. The wall was painted with red and white. The round tables were covered with red-and-white cloths. In the middle of the tables were candle handlers, which definitely fit for a romantic dinner. The whole place gave off a friendly and calm feeling.

They chose a seat in the corner beside the big glass window, which provided a good view of the garden.

"This place is just so charming, Tsubasa. Good choice," Mikan complimented as she looked at the beautifully designed garden.

"It all thanks to Hotaru," Tsubasa simply said, and he smiled when he saw that she was happy.

"It's a long time since the last time we go out together," Mikan said as she beamed at him.

"Yeah. It was Misaki's birthday party, right?" Tsubasa recalled, his face filled with amusement when he remembered the memory.

Mikan chuckled, "I still remember Tono and you jumping up and down her queen sized bed. You guys even had such a big pillow fight. Gosh, talking about Misaki's wrath,"

"Hey, we were drunk back then, and we've made up for her. We've bought her new pillows after that," he said, his face has turned beef-red.

"True, but she refused to talk to you guys for a month. One terrible month, I must add," she giggled, knowing that her statement had hit him, hard. Tsubasa looked a little down-hearted, but he regained his cheerful self right away. "Anyway, that's over. She's talking to me again. What about you, Mikan-chan, how are you doing these days?"

"Well, nothing much, I'm currently looking for a part time job," she replied, "I don't want to trouble mother and father too much."

"You still don't call them otou-san and okaa-san," he stated, noticing the change in her voice. Mikan hesitated a bit, then she sighed before she said, "Well, I'm still… I don't know. It was kind of weird calling them otou-san and okaa-san. I just can't be used to it,"

"Mikan…" before Tsubasa could finish what he was about to say, a nonchalant voice interrupted him, "What can I get for you?" He looked up and saw a raven haired guy stood near their table. The guy was wearing waiter outfit and handing out two menus to them. He had a calm feature, but the look on his face clearly showed that he was bored with his job.

"Hyuuga-senpai?" Mikan was surprised when she heard the familiar voice, and when she looked up, she saw Natsume Hyuuga stand there, dress in a white shirt, black pants and an apron, hand them menus. She didn't expect to see him there, and she couldn't help thinking in a corner of her mind how good he looked in just a simple outfit like this. Natsume, on the other hand, just gave her a bored glance and said "Tsukiyomi".

"You work here?" Mikan asked.

"No. Ruka has an urgent project to finish, so I'm substituting him for the night," the lad replied.

"Wait a minute, you two know each other?" Tsubasa butted in. He was feeling like he was left out.

"Uhm, not quite. He's just a senpai at school," Mikan answered. She didn't know why but she suddenly felt self-conscious in front of Natsume.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Tsubasa Andou," Tsubasa grinned and he held out his hand to Natsume. The latter only looked at his hand with suspicious eyes before he stated, "Natsume Hyuuga". He didn't return the hand shaking thing. Tsubasa pulled his hand back as Mikan chuckled in her mind about how familiar this scene was to her.

"You guys want to order anything or not?" Natsume impatiently asked as he looked at Mikan and Tsubasa.

"You know, for a waiter, you're being really rude to customers," Mikan pouted.

"I'm just substituting Ruka, it's not my job," he retorted as he gave her another glare and Mikan returned it as intense.

"You can make him be shouted at, or worse, fired," she stated.

"Well, two dishes of spaghetti, champagne and a cup of orange juice," Tsubasa said, intended to stop the glaring contest between the two. _Their eye-fight can turn into a real one anytime_, he thought.

"I'll be back with your orders," Natsume finally said. He threw Mikan an irritated look before turning away and headed to the kitchen. Many girls squealed in delight as he walked pass them. Some even faked fainting to get his attention, but Natsume ignored them all.

"That guy totally spoiled the mood," Mikan said. She was watching Natsume's retreating figure with a frown.

"I see that you two have quite an interesting relationship," Tsubasa commented as he observed Mikan.

"I prefer having nothing to do with that cocky senpai than hanging around him," she grunted. "Anyway, forget about him. How was your mission, Tsubasa? Last time you were at my place, Hotaru called you back for a mission"

"Now that you mention it, I must remind you to be careful, Mikan," Tsubasa said in his serious tone.

"I know. But why do you suddenly lower your voice?" Mikan asked, she sensed something not right.

"Well, it's about my mission," he replied in a husky voice, "I am assigned to look for a man. He was reported to have appeared somewhere near this neighborhood."

"But why are you looking for him?" she asked again, an uneasy feeling was sneaking in her stomach.

"Because he had killed the previous spies sent to catch him, Mikan" she tried her best to hold back a gasp when she heard his statement, "The man was a skilled assassin"

"Did he really kill them?" she asked in a shaking tone, and she was afraid to hear the answer from him. Tsubasa only nodded, "That's why I need you to be careful, Mikan. He was merciless with his victims,"

"I know. I'll be careful. You take care too, Tsubasa," she said as she cast him a worried look.

"Don't look at me like I'm going to die any moment now, Mikan," he grinned at her. She frowned, "Don't say such thing, Tsubasa"

"Okay, okay. Put those things aside. Aren't we going to have fun tonight?" Tsubasa grinned.

"Here's your order," Natsume had come back with a stray on his hand. He put the dishes and their drinks in front of Mikan and Tsubasa. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"That's fine. Thank you," Tsubasa smiled but Natsume only returned him his usual cold glare. However, when he was about to walk away, he gave Mikan a small glance, which sent her back to self-conscious mode.

The night went on as Tsubasa casually made Mikan laugh when he told her about troubles he got himself into in his missions. While she was standing in the hallway, waiting for Tsubasa to get their coats after they had finished their dinner, Mikan glanced over her shoulder to look for Natsume. It was easy to spot him serving a table in the corner for his raven hair and his handsome feature obviously stood out in a crowd. Furthermore, the table he was serving was occupied by four girls and they were squealing and drooling over him.

"Ready to go?" Tsubasa suddenly appeared in front of her as he handed Mikan her coat.

"Yeah," she nodded, and with that, they left the restaurant and walked back home.

**********

He walked out, tightening his coat. The winter wind was blowing a little stronger than the last time he felt it. It caressed his raven hair, making it more messed up than it has already been. There were only a few people on the street, walking back home after a day full of work, eager to get away from the cold wind.

He frowned. People. Always had something on their minds, always cared about themselves more than others. He hated them, he despised them. It was because of them that he had no other place to go. It was because of other people that he was forced into this darkness.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't realize that he had reached his apartment. Fishing the key out from his pocket, he opened the door. As soon as he stepped in, he felt someone inside. Years of training had made him aware of other people's presence. Moreover, it helped him realize who was bad and who was good. And the person that was standing in the dark corner of his living room was definitely emitting a dangerous aura.

He raised his hand to look for the light switch on the wall, but a voice stopped him.

"Don't," it said.

He frozed.

That voice belonged to one person that he hated the most, the person that he feared the most.

"Don't turn it on."

Persona.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Well, well, Black Cat-kun, is this the way you greet me, your otou-san?" Persona smirked as he stepped closer.

"You are not my otou-san. My otou-san died in a car accident thirteen years ago," the young man gritted through his teeth, his fist clenched.

"How touching, Black Cat! You still remember him, after all those years," Persona sarcastically said.

For a while, both men just stood there, glaring at each other as if competing on who would be the first to look away. When Persona finally spoke, his voice has returned to its usually cold and emotionless tone, "The file is on your desk. I expect it to be done tonight."

Natsume simply nodded as Persona walked up to him.

"I'll be watching you, Natsume-kun,"

And with that, Persona disappeared into the darkness of the night, like a shadow.

**********

A/N: I know that this chap is totally boring, feel free to complain.


End file.
